Leading the notebook: Davison in lineup

*****Rob Davison is off the injured reserve list and into the lineup for the first time since he damaged his fingers in an Oct. 26 fight in Detroit. And he’ll be out there at left wing on a line with Curtis Brown and Patrick Rissmiller if recent practice combinations hold true.

Don’t expect to see Steve Bernier on the ice, however.

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*****Biggest media scrum of the season in the Sharks dressing room today, what with the Board of Governors gathering at Pebble Beach tomorrow and reporters showing up early. But it still didn’t impress Craig Rivet, who toiled for seven years in Montreal.

“This is about a third of what we’d get on an off day in the middle of the week in the middle of the season,” he said.

*****I mentioned yesterday that Sharks CEO Greg Jamison stopped by Ron Wilson’s office to talk about possible rule changes and the only thing Wilson suggested was a return to the enforcement standard in effect at the end of the lockout.

Today he came up with another idea to increase offense in the league.

Rather than let a player out of the penalty box if the other team scores, “make it a full two minutes for any stick penalty — slashing, hooking — or any shot to the head,” said Wilson. That’s actually a throwback to NHL rules pre-1956, when a player had to serve the full time in the box. It was only because the great Montreal teams of that era would put games out of reach with a man advantage that the current system was adopted.

Goal scoring continues to drop in the league and that needs to change, Wilson — and others — contend. Otherwise, he added, “at the end of the day there wont be people coming to a game when it’s a shot-blocking festival.”

**** Now it looks as if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman might not be at tonight’s game despite initial reports that he’d be at HP Pavilion. If he’s not, he will likely show up on Friday night. NHL Players Association executive director Paul Kelly will be among those at the Kings’ game tonight.

Kelly met Wednesday with players from the Sharks and Kings.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

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With 2 games in 11 days there is no excuse for not going 100% every shift. This team has no heart, no edge, no work ethic. They play hard for about 12 minutes a game.

Rivet’s comments about maybe it’s better to be tired so there was some rythmn made me want to puke. I’ve been a season ticket holder since the first season at the Cow Palace, and played hockey as a junior. The team that wants it more wins 9/10 times. I’ll reserve 1/10 for the odd flukey bounce that costs a game.

This team simply does not want it bad enough and until every guy on that bench is committed…this is the Sharks team we’ll have.

Davey

It’s getting hot in here. We should all get some pizza before a game sometime and have some fun (maybe Pollak will even pay).

I’ll admit I haven’t played hockey for all that long (only about 10 years). I only started really watching hockey around 95. I never have been in the NHL and have never coached or managed a team. I can only talk about what I see. Here it is. The Sharks have, more this year than ever, stated that short of a Cup the season is a disappointment. Everyone knows it. Why do you think DW was about to give up on both Marleau and RW (or so the rumors say)? Once again, the team needs a couple key ingredients:

1) A premier goal scorer who can finish (someone that can finish a perfect Joe Thornton pass)

2) A premier defenseman who can skate, score, and defend

The Sharks probably think thought that Cheechoo or Marleau would fit number 1. However, it is not going as planned this year. The closest we have to number 2 is either Ozo or Carle, but neither would be considered great stoppers.

I think Nabby could lead the way to the Cup. Sure, he gives up some dumb goals every once in a while and he sucks in the shootout, but if the offense were to step it up, this wouldn’t be an issue.

I think the Sharks have great role players. They have great speed (did you see Mitchell in the OT?). They can be tough if the coach could get through to them.

I think most teams want to copy what Anaheim did last year with all the fighting, but forget that they had speed (McDonald), scoring (Teemu), defensive studs (Pronger & Neidermeyer), and solid goaltending.

I really hate these days off. I really want the Sharks to just get on a roll. We just need to pray more for them.

’08 or bust

you’re dead wrong about Nabokov. he is a loser. even his own backups have gone on to outdo him, see Kiprusoff.

and they won more the last 2 years with Toskala in goal than Nabokov, even though Tosk is not a great goalie. but the team played better when he was in the net because Nabokov inspires no confidence in other players as the playoff games in Det and SJ showed so glaringly last season.

c

Can’t say I disagree with anything BC is saying. Also, the value of a “C” in hockey is over-hyped. There are leaders in the clubhouse that don’t wear a letter on their chest. Do players tune them out because their not the designated captain? These are all professionals that have been playing hockey their entire lives. Either you have heart or you don’t. No captain is going to give you one.

BC

if that is not pollyanna excuse making garbage, avoiding and ignoring the failures, I don’t know what is.

Reality = “polyanna excuse making garbage”, according to Brh.

scott

Vic, you think the game didn’t sell out because Sharks don’t seem to folks to not be playing well. I disagree with that consensus, but I have a different opinion for not selling out last night. I tried to sell my own tickets — I did NOT want to see the Kings for the third time, second game in a row, and it was a Wednesday night, and still early in the season. I think it had more to do with NHL scheduling. If the number not paying were 1000-1500, I’d give that other mindset more weight. Management isn’t going to worry too much about 400-450 unsold seats.

Topcat

er..this blog was really nice when we had real hockey people contributing and David, now all we get is the rants like the Shark’s web site discussion room…somehow, word spread about this blog..everyone should calm down, it is a game after all. If Wilson should be fired, then so should all coaches that have a worse record than him. It is early in the season yet. They are trying different players to see who can really make a difference in the playoffs. Considering that our scoring is way down, we are doing pretty well in the standings. Don’t forget, there may be injures that are not public.

mark

i agree with topcat regarding the personal nature of the postings, lets just focus on the team and not on each other. I think we all are frustrated with a team that has very talented players and is consistently playing lackluster hockey against mid-level teams. Phoenix was not an elite or even mid level team when we beat them 3 times, with out the new goalie they were bad, simply bad. Anaheim is not the same team they were last year while missing two of their key players and we are not getting the job done. L.A is not, repeat not, a good team that should be beating the sharks 3 outof 4. Even the L.A press is talking about a re-building year and they have beat us 3 out of 4. Marleau deserves heaps of criticism because he is the captain, and the captain should set the tone. He might get off easier if he weren’t, but he wears the ‘C’ and is invisible on most nights…… He needs to be more involved, not just scoring but hitting, fore checking, being vocal ! If that is not his game then give his ‘C’ to someone who can lead, cause let’s face it this team is lacing leadership.

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